ORAS 1U Simple And Effective: Sun Balance

I want to do a post ORAS 1U teams here and there alongside my analysis work to give people some sense of the tier and furthermore, to give people some decent teams to find their feet with. Largely I'll be focussed on providing standard teams but I'll definitely note creative tweaks when appropriate.



This team is a fairly simple and standard sun team: Ho-Oh and Groudon are the classic core, with Scarf Yveltal and Klefki giving it strong tools to bother offense which often is a more difficult matchup for these sorts of teams, combined with Defog Arceus-Rock for the mandatory Defog support and AV Palkia to cover the Kyogre weakness and altogether give a solid team. It can be tweaked to personal taste of course.



Ho-Oh @ Choice Band
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Atk / 16 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Sacred Fire
- Earthquake
- Sleep Talk

Choice Band Ho-Oh is an awesome Pokemon: with a Choice Band equipped and an Adamant nature it acts as an effective balance-breaker and possibly stall-breaker especially with Klefki's Spikes support. It has almost perfect coverage with its two STABs, and Sacred Fire's burn chance makes it even more difficult to switch into. Earthquake hits almost every Pokemon which resists its dual STABs super-effectively. With great bulk and Regenerator it can be difficult to take down, but obviously the stealth rock weakness hinders it significantly. Sleep Talk lets it absorb sleep versus Darkrai. It should generally be used in the lead slot against hyper offensive teams since it can be difficult to take out and matches up nicely versus both Deoxys-Speed and Darkrai, and it's difficult to Defog versus those sorts of teams due to how much they pressure typical sun builds.



Klefki @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Toxic
- Spikes
- Play Rough
- Thunder Wave

Klefki alongside Ho-Oh gives a team great coverage versus Xerneas and Darkrai as well as versus Yveltal. Play Rough hits those Dark-types super-effectively, as well as Dragon-types, and although it doesn't do impressive damage to Xerneas it lets it break its substitutes. It also helps it pressure Mega Sableye, making it possible to get up hazards versus more stallish builds. Thunder Wave and Toxic are both immensely useful statuses, and combined with Prankster let it prevent pokemon like Rayquaza or Arceus-Electric for example from getting too out of hand, making it a sort of emergency check to many sweepers. It also lets it annoy Defoggers, none of which are immune to both statuses.


Palkia @ Assault Vest
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Spacial Rend
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder / Dragon Tail

AV Palk is a solid defensive response to Kyogre without sacrificing offensive menace either. Its dual STABs have great coverage, whilst Fire Blast hits Ferrothorn and is powered up in the Sun, making up for it weakening its Water-type STAB. Thunder can be run in the last slot for a stronger move versus Kyogre, but Dragon Tail is appealing for its ability to help the team manage versus MonoCM Arceus-Dark and Ekiller.


Groudon @ Earth Plate
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Atk / 172 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Stone Edge
- Thunder Wave

Standard Sun utility Groudon, it's strong enough to OHKO Arceus-Electric and do hefty damage to Mega Sableye, with Stone Edge letting it hit Ground-type resists. Thunder Wave is its move of choice to bother defoggers, and with both Klefki and Groudon having status moves Defoggers are very likely to get hit with status at some point during the game. The Sun support is obviously useful for helping Ho-Oh run rampant. It can be tweaked to your preferences, for example with Leftovers instead to give it a bit more staying power, or Rocky Helmet for chip damage versus Ekiller and Mega Kangaskhan, but the given set is probably the most effective overall. Dragon Tail can definitely work over Thunder Wave since Klefki already can lure in and status many common Defoggers and it can let it rack up hazard damage.


Yveltal @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 32 HP / 4 Def / 248 SpA / 224 Spe
Modest Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Oblivion Wing
- Foul Play
- Focus Blast

Scarf Yveltal has a number of really good traits that make it a good fit for this team. Its awesome dual STAB combo and speed combined make it a great cleaner and gives the team another tool to annoy hyper offense. It also provides another Ekiller check alongside Groudon and Arceus-Rock with Foul Play. Focus Blast is chosen over U-turn in the final slot since the team is quite balanced so the momentum-gaining utility of U-turn isn't so useful and the ability to hit Darkrai harder and potentially lure Tyranitar are both appealing, but U-turn is still a viable choice.



Arceus-Rock @ Stone Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Will-O-Wisp
- Defog
- Recover

Arceus-Rock is the best Ho-Oh answer in the game. It also is a somewhat decent check to Ekiller due to being able to speed tie and resisting Extreme Speed, with its access to Will-o-Wisp and Recover. Defog is absolutely 100% mandatory on Ho-Oh teams, and it's something Arceus-Rock does reasonably well.

Spoiler: Importable

Ho-Oh @ Choice Band
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Atk / 16 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Sacred Fire
- Earthquake
- Sleep Talk

Klefki @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Toxic
- Spikes
- Play Rough
- Thunder Wave

Palkia @ Assault Vest
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Spacial Rend
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder

Groudon @ Earth Plate
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Atk / 172 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Stone Edge
- Thunder Wave

Yveltal @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 32 HP / 4 Def / 248 SpA / 224 Spe
Modest Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Oblivion Wing
- Foul Play
- Focus Blast

Arceus-Rock @ Stone Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Will-O-Wisp
- Defog
- Recover

All in all it's a decent balance team that covers all of the common threats pretty comfortably and which I'd recommend players looking to learn the metagame to try out. It can be tweaked in little ways to suit a player's style or preferences. Probably the biggest weakness of the team on paper is MonoCM Arceus-Dark: the best way to handle it is status it and then send in a strong attacker, such as Groudon or Ho-Oh to do serious damage. If Palkia runs Dragon Tail then that helps a bit too. If you wanted you could fit Heal Block on Klefki for it but that's probably overkill. CM Latias over Palkia is an option which makes the team a little sturdier against offensive Ground-types such as Swords Dance Arceus-Ground and RP Groudon, but in return you become weaker versus MonoCM Arceus-Dark and more vulnerable to cores of Pursuit + Kyogre. Another tweak which works, but is more difficult to use in practice is to replace Klefki with Mega Mawile. Defensively, a lot of the things Klefki covers are to some extent covered by its teammates, and Palkia can be changed to a Trick Room variant, which gives it another trick to use versus offensive teams as well as a truly monstrous stallbreaker, but it really is difficult to use.

Spoiler: Latias Version

Ho-Oh @ Choice Band
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Sleep Talk
- Earthquake

Klefki @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Toxic
- Play Rough

Latias @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 104 SpA / 16 SpD / 136 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Calm Mind
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock

Groudon @ Leftovers
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Dragon Tail

Yveltal @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 32 HP / 4 Def / 248 SpA / 224 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Oblivion Wing
- Foul Play
- Focus Blast

Arceus-Rock @ Stone Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Defog
- Will-O-Wisp

Spoiler: Mega Mawile SemiRoom Version

Ho-Oh @ Choice Band
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Atk / 16 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Sacred Fire
- Earthquake
- Sleep Talk

Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 148 Atk / 112 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Play Rough
- Iron Head

Palkia @ Lustrous Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Spacial Rend
- Hydro Pump
- Fire Blast

Groudon @ Leftovers
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 140 Atk / 120 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Stone Edge
- Dragon Tail

Yveltal @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 32 HP / 4 Def / 248 SpA / 224 Spe
Modest Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Oblivion Wing
- Foul Play
- U-turn

Arceus-Rock @ Stone Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Will-O-Wisp
- Defog
- Recover

 

I said I'd never get into another gen. But I may burrow this team and see what happens for kicks. I can definitely see the balance. The force was with you on this one.

 

This team is viable in PS ubers right?
Still learning the difference between OU and 1U

 

no, ORAS Ubers has primals / mega salamence / shadow tag / geomancy legal